Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
Taken when we visited the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival back in February. I shot quite a few scenes of movement like this during the day, relying on the microprism (rather than the split-prim) to focus. While things looked sharp in the viewfinder, many of the shots are slightly front or rear-focused. More practice is needed, I think.
Minolta X-300 & Minolta 50mm f/1.7 MD on Fomapan 400 (@320asa). Ilfotec DD-X 9mins @ 20°.
Taken on 22 February 2026
My wife and I visited the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival today. It’s the first time we’ve been and it was an enjoyable few hours out.
Wakefield is one of the towns that delineate the area known as the Rhubarb Triangle*, famed for producing forced rhubarb, a method of growing the vegetable in dark sheds which encourages the plants to convert carbohydrates into glucose, forming stalks with a sweetly sour taste. Rhubarb has many uses, but is often served in sweet pies and crumbles,sometimes accompanied by other fruits. Wakefield Council holds the annual festival each February.
The event itself was somewhat akin to a Christmas market and I was surprised at how many stalls were present, along with various activities taking place, and local bars, cafe’s, and restaurants also laying on rhubarb themed food and drinks. We bought a number of items, including some orange and rhubarb marmalade (I’m on a bit of a marmalade voyage of discovery at present, having it with toast for breakfast several times a week), some rhubarb candles (which my wife will gift to a friend), a sausage and rhubarb focaccia (to be eaten tomorrow!), and some fresh stalks of rhubarb (some of which we ate with custard this evening).
As well as the stalls, there were a number of other events taking place during the event (which ran from Friday until today), including live music, arts and crafts, cooking demonstrations, various performers in rhubarb costumes, and no less than three different morris dancing groups (or sides, as I believe they are known) .
*the legal definition of the Rhubarb Triangle is apparently as follows…
“from Ackworth Moor Top north along the A628 to Featherstone and Pontefract. Then on to the A656 through Castleford. It then goes west along the A63 past Garforth and West Garforth. Head north passing Whitkirk, Manston and on towards the A6120 by Scholes. Follow the A6120 west, round to pass Farsley which then leads south west via the A647 onto the A6177. Pass Dudley Hill to pick up the M606 south. At junction 26 take the M62 south to junction 25 head east along A644 toward Dewsbury, passing Mirfield, to pick up the A638 towards Wakefield. At Wakefield take the A638 south to Ackworth Moor top.”[
Ricoh GRIII
Taken on 22 February 2026
I think I’m suffering from pandemic-induced weight-gain. I spent the first few months of the year cutting back on what I eat and had lost about 15lbs in weight before the lock-down was enforced. I’ve now seen my weight slowly creep back up and it’s now increased by maybe 4lbs.
My lifestyle hasn’t changed significantly since the introduction of the lock-down and, if anything, I’ve been going out for regular walks more frequently than before (although longer hikes have been curtailed). The problem is that I’m eating more, which I suspect is down to some underlying stress and anxiety about the pandemic.
This is clearly something I need to get a handle on – the thought of those months of dieting being wasted is not something I really want to deal with, so I think I’m going to have to start being properly strict with myself about it from now on.
Today’s photos are of The Hepworth gallery and were made back in March. Not everyone is a fan of the building’s brutalist architecture, but I like it and it offers a lot of possibilities for making photographs.
Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford Delta 400.
Taken on 14 March 2020
Today’s photo is of the West Yorkshire History Centre in Wakefield, UK, which I walked past on my way to The Hepworth gallery when visiting the city back in March.
The building stands next to the busy A61 road. It is clad in a series of perforated metal panels and at ground level there are a number of interesting concrete supports next to the entrance. It makes for an interesting photographic subject but, because of its location, unless you use a wide angle lens, it will probably be difficult to frame it in a way that avoids a busy and cluttered background.
However, take a moment to tilt your gaze upwards and the clutter is removed and a stark geometric shape is instead presented.
Canon Sure Shot Supreme & Ilford Delta 400.
Taken on 14 March 2020
After a week or two of posting colour images, today marks a return to black and white. I still have a number of colour images from the two recently shot rolls that I haven’t posted here though, so maybe they’ll get an airing if I feel a splash of colour is required.
Today’s image is of the stairwell in The Hepworth gallery in Wakefield. I visited the gallery back in the middle of the month before social distancing rules were introduced, and then enforced by the nationwide lock-down. The gallery, along with other such venues around the country, has now closed until further notice, so I was lucky to get to attend when I did.
The reason for my visit was an exhibition about the relationship between the photographer Bill Brandt, and the artist and sculptor Henry Moore, who had met during the second world war when they were both documenting the plight of people sheltering from air-raids in London’s Underground stations. Their relationship continued with an interest in a number of shared themes throughout their careers, including the human body, the landscape, industry and others.
While I was predominantly interested in Brandt’s photography over Moore’s artworks, the latter’s sculptures are wonderful to see in person and made for a number of interesting photographic opportunities, some of which I’ll be posting over the coming days.
For now though, here’s a more mundane subject, but one which I think has made for a nicely satisfying picture – namely the mid-level landing in the gallery’s stairwell. I liked the shapes, textures, tones and symmetry (although it’s not really symmetrical).
Minolta SRT 101b, Rokkor 50mm f/1.7 & Ilford HP5+ (@800).
Taken on 14 March 2020
As well as being a nice place to visit, the Hepworth Gallery is a nicely photogenic subject in and of itself too.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 & Arista Edu 200.
Taken on 30 March 2019
Steel City Snapper photography 